


Sweeter than You

by worrisomeme



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Artist Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Kinda, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Service Dogs, War Veteran Bucky Barnes, texting fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 07:37:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14397345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worrisomeme/pseuds/worrisomeme
Summary: “I can’t ask you to go alone,” Bucky had said, trying to get out of bed even as his body was still in shreds from the bomb, his mind even worse from the torture.“I won’t be alone,” Steve had replied, purple still dark under his eyes from the lack of sleep, still rimmed with pink from the crying, “I’ll be with Tony.”“Oh, yeah, great, even better,” Bucky had mumbled, but at least he’d laid back down.“I managed two years without you,” Steve reminds him gently, “I can handle another night.” There’s no bitterness or spite behind his words, but Bucky flinches a little anyway. “And anyway, this is the only chance for who knows how long babe. With how much help this could be to you, I can’t pass it up.”





	Sweeter than You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RHCarter (Rad_Loser_Weenie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rad_Loser_Weenie/gifts).



“I can’t ask you to go alone,” Bucky had said, trying to get out of bed even as his body was still in shreds from the bomb, his mind even worse from the torture.

“I won’t be alone,” Steve had replied, purple still dark under his eyes from the lack of sleep, still rimmed with pink from the crying, “I’ll be with Tony.”

“Oh, yeah, great, even better,” Bucky had mumbled, but at least he’d laid back down.

“I managed two years without you,” Steve reminds him gently, “I can handle another night.” There’s no bitterness or spite behind his words, but Bucky flinches a little anyway. “And anyway, this is the only chance for who knows how long babe. With how much help this could be to you, I can’t pass it up.”

 

And that’s how Steve ends up in the living room of a mansion Upstate, sending Bucky a picture of a brown and white Goldador with the message:

[ **Steve:** She’s so sweet! What should we name her?]

[ **Bucky:** Well, if she’s so sweet we should name her Stevie ;P]

Steve can’t help the little giggle that escapes his lips or the pink that blooms on his cheeks. He sends Bucky a picture of him giving the camera what he hopes is an unamused look.

“Gross,” Tony mutters from the other couch where he’s playing Grand Theft Auto with Mikey, the guy who raises and trains the service dogs.

“Shut up Tony, they’re cute,” Mikey says, nudging his friend.

[ **Bucky:** Whaaaaat?]

[ **Bucky:** Like Stevie Nicks, you know?]

[ **Bucky:** ;D]

[ **Steve:** We’re not naming her Stevie]

Bucky sends a picture of him pouting. Next to him, also pouting, is Samantha. She’s been his main nighttime nurse since he’s been back in the States. She’s been through the nightmares and the worst of it with the boys, so they’ve kind of all gotten attached to one another.

[ **Bucky:** Samantha said it was a fitting and a great idea]

[ **Steve:** Samantha’s just kissing your ass because you’re down an arm and full of shrapnel :P]

[ **Bucky:** And you aren’t…. why exactly?]

[ **Bucky:** ;P]

Steve barks out a laugh and Tony makes gagging noises while Mikey nudges him again.

“Don’t even pretend you’re not this disgustingly adorable with Pepp and Rhodey,” Steve snipes, though he’s smiling.

[ **Steve:** I have been with you /way/ too long for any of that nonsense]

[ **Steve:** And anyway, I prefer to kiss your ass in person]

[ **Steve:** If you know what I mean ;) ]

[ **Bucky:** Oh we’re sexting now? ;3]

[ **Steve:** No, we’re trying to figure out what to name your pup.]

[ **Bucky:** Ugh, fine]

Then he sends another picture of him pouting. He’s alone this time, which makes Steve chuckle a little and shakes his head. Poor Samantha.

[ **Steve:** Maybe we should call her Mocha]

[ **Steve:** Since she’s so sweet :P]

[ **Bucky:** You’re such a dork <3]

[ **Bucky:** I love you so much<33333]

[ **Steve:** Awwh I love you too<3333]

[ **Bucky:** I like where you’re going with the food-based names. Those are adorable]

[ **Bucky:** We could also go with something like Sweet Pea]

[ **Steve:** Awwwwwh that would be cute too!]

[ **Steve:** Peony]

[ **Steve:** Marigold]

[ **Steve:** Awwh we could call her Mari for short!]

[ **Bucky:** Butterscotch]

[ **Bucky:** Soda Pop! Clint met a dog named Soda Pop once!]

[ **Steve:** OMG that’s SO cute!]

[ **Steve:** That might be more fitting if she was all white though, like 7-Up]

[ **Steve:** Or all brown like cola]

[ **Bucky:** We could call her Root Beer Float :P]

[ **Bucky:** OH ROO-BEE FOR SHORT!]

[ **Bucky:** LIKE RUBY!]

[ **Bucky:** GET IT?!]

[ **Bucky:** I DIDN’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! I JUST CAME UP WITH THAT JUST NOW!]

Steve is laughing so hard now he’s turning red and even Mikey’s got his eyebrows raised at him, the game paused on the TV screen.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Mikey asks Tony.

Tony snickers a little and rolls his eyes. “He’ll be fine,” he says, unpausing the game. “He’s probably just delirious from lack of sleep. Don’t worry about it.”

Steve, still cracking up, turns his phone and shows Mikey.

“Awwwh,” the other man coos. “I like it. You guys should go with that.”

Tony heaves a sigh and, reluctantly, pauses the game again to look. But even he can’t help but giggle a little, a wide, sincere grin stretching across his face. “Agreed,” he says, before the mask slips back into place and he goes back to the game.

[ **Steve:** Awh, my genius<3]

[ **Steve:** Everyone agrees, Root Beer Float it is ^_^]

[ **Steve:** Ruby for short]

[ **Bucky:** And no one will ever know :3]

[ **Bucky:** It’ll be our little secret]

[ **Bucky:** Everyone who meets her will be like “awh, Ruby, that’s such a sweet name”]

[ **Bucky:** And we’ll be like “you have NO idea”]

[ **Bucky:** MWAHAHAHA]

Steve sputters out another surprised laugh even as an ache fills his chest at missing the other man, his other half. He smiles down at the dog at his feet and reaches down to scratch behind her ears. “Okay Ruby, tomorrow I get to bring you home.”

 

Steve sleeps a little restlessly, but Ruby is there the whole time, curled up next to him. In the morning, he thanks Mikey over and over again for everything he’s done.

“Don’t thank me,” Mikey says with a smile, hands raised. Tony has already said his goodbyes and is waiting in the car. “As much as it pains me to say it, thank him.” He chuckles and nudges a thumb in the direction of the car.

“I’ll thank both of you,” Steve says with a laugh and shakes the guy’s hand before heading into the car, Ruby at his heels.

The drive back down to the city is quiet and their new companion lays calmly at their feet even as Steve’s every nerve is thrumming. Even the one night without Bucky had been too much, like if he wasn’t waking up in the hospital room it wasn’t real and he’d get back down to the city to find out it had all just been some fever dream and Bucky really was gone for good.

“He misses you too,” Tony says, nudging his shoulder against his friend’s.

 

Harper, Bucky’s favorite day nurse, is just at the end of her round of tests when Steve makes it through the door, Ruby at his heels. It takes everything in him not to run across the room, to take Bucky’s hands in his and feel that he’s alive and he’s real and he’s _there_ , still there.

“There’s my best guy,” Bucky says with a relieved sigh, and Steve can see the tension from where he’s fighting not to reach his arm out.

“Thank god you’re back,” Harper jokes as she examines what’s left of Bucky’s left arm, how the wounds are healing. “It’s hard to keep this one in line without you around.”

“You do _not_ know Stevie very well if you think I’m the one’s gotta be kept in line,” Bucky jokes, beaming at the other man as he makes his way across the room.

“He’s got a point,” the blond admits, a sheepish grin on his face.

Harper laughs as she turns to Steve. “I could see that,” she teases, sizing him up playfully. She scribbles a few notes on her clipboard before slipping it into it’s spot at the edge of Bucky’s bed. “The doc wants to move the last surgery to tomorrow morning, if he can.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Steve asks, stopping in his tracks, biting his lip a little.

“It’s a good thing,” she assures him with a smile and a hand on his arm. “Means he’s healing faster than we had thought he would. He’ll be in in a little while to do another checkup and see if he’s good to go.”

Steve lets out a breath of relief and nods, taking her hand in his. “Thanks,” he says sincerely and squeezes her hand gently before letting go.

“Glad I could give you some good news,” she says, her eyes lighting up like she really, _really_ means it. And then she’s out the door.

Ruby’s already settled on the floor next to Bucky’s bed, the brunet scratching behind her ears gently. Steve can’t help but grin at the sight, even as butterfly wings beat wildly in his stomach.

He perches on the edge of the bed and wrings his hands in his lap. He doesn’t want to think about how this last surgery is the most dangerous, how they’re not out of the woods just yet, no matter how much they want to keep pretending they are. He doesn’t _want_ to think about it, but it hangs heavy in the air between them as he stares at his hands in his lap and Bucky watches him.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Steve says quietly, to comfort himself more even than the other man.

There’s a long stretch of silence where they just sit like that and Steve feels himself starting to shake apart again, and then Bucky says, “Marry me.”

Steve’s breath sticks in his throat for a moment and his shoulders tense, his hands gripping each other so tight that pale skin is turning even more white.

“You mean it?” he says, finally allowing himself to look at the brunet timidly.

“I mean it,” Bucky says. He reaches out and gently pries Steve’s hands apart, lacing their fingers. “Let’s get married, Stevie, tonight, before the surgery. They got a priest here, don’t they? Let’s do it.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asks, looking into storm cloud eyes and chewing on his bottom lip. “I thought you wanted to wait.”

“I thought so to,” Bucky says, trailing off with a little shrug, “but why? Why wait? Life is short and we’ve been together for forever and I want you to be mine, officially, forever. On paper.”

“Nothing’s going to happen tomorrow except they get that damn shrapnel out of your chest,” Steve says, his eyes starting to tear up. “You’re going to be fine.”

Bucky’s hand is shaking as he squeezes Steve’s gently and Ruby hops up onto the bed, nuzzling against him.

“Maybe,” the brunet says, his voice breaking on the word, “or maybe it’s too close to my heart, maybe they nick an artery, maybe my body just can’t take the stress like they think it can. If I’m going to die, I want to do it as your husband Stevie. And if I’m going to live, I want to do that as your husband too.”

Steve lets out a single sob and nods. “I’ve got a bum heart and bad lungs and about a million other medical problems. If you die before me James Barnes, I’m going to be furious,” he manages, voice shaking, and forces a laugh.

“Marry me?” Bucky asks again, reaching up and resting his hand on Steve’s cheek, brushing away tears with his thumb.

Steve nods and turns his head just enough to place a soft kiss on Bucky’s palm. “Of course,” he says.

Bucky laughs, his grin stretching from ear to ear, and says, “Alright, call Harper, call Samantha, call the priest and a lawyer and whoever we gotta get in here to make this happen.”

And Bucky’s laughter is contagious, Steve finds it bubbling up from his throat as he sniffles and wipes his eyes. “I’ll see what we have to do,” he says, pulling out his phone.

[ **Steve:** Hey, what would it take for me and Buck to get married in, like, an hour?]

[ **Nat:** ……………]

[ **Nat:** Are you serious Rogers?]

[ **Steve:** Serious as heart surgery in the morning]

[ **Nat:** REALLY?]

[ **Nat:** FOR REAL?]

[ **Nat:** I WILL BE RIGHT THERE]

Steve laughs and shakes his head, showing Bucky the texts.

“You know she’s going to bring _everyone_ ,” the brunet says, snickering.

Steve’s eyes go wide and his laughter dies on his lips. “Oh fuck,” he says, “maybe I should have texted someone else.”

But Bucky just laughs and tugs Steve in by the collar of his shirt, kissing him soft and slow. “We’re gonna get married,” he says.

And with stars in his eyes, breathlessly, Steve repeats, “We’re gonna get married.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I hope everyone enjoyed it, especially you Romance!<3
> 
> Comments, kudos, reblogs on tumblr all mean sososo much to me.<3 <3 <3
> 
> And, as always, you can find me on [tumblr](http://worrisomeme.tumblr.com) where i have been a little absent lately but now that spring is finally breaking I'll probably be more active and writing more again!<3


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